Sky Bet Football League Team of the Week

12 January 2015

Ryan Percival

We pick out 11 top performers and a manager from the week's Sky Bet Football League matches.

Goalkeeper: Matt Harrold (Crawley Town)

A number of goalkeepers stood out in The Football League over the weekend – Sheffield Wednesday's Keiren Westwood, Adam Federici of Reading and York City's Bobby Olejnik – but striker-turned-stopper Matt Harrold gets a place in between the sticks this week.

The front man had to don the gloves for over 50 minutes in Crawley's 2-2 draw with Milton Keynes Dons after goalkeeper Brian Jensen dislocated his finger. He may have conceded twice, including a last-gasp leveller, but Harrold performed admirably, pulling off a number of saves, and was named Man of the Match.

Defender: Joel Lynch (Huddersfield Town)

In his 200th career league appearance, Lynch scored a spectacular overhead kick to secure all three points for Huddersfield in a 3-1 success over Watford.

Defender: Peter Clarke (Blackpool)

Blackpool picked up three points at home to Millwall and Peter Clarke was the scorer of the decisive goal. That was the first time he'd found the net since October 2011 and it came after he made a crucial goal-line clearance to keep the score level.

Defender: Glenn Loovens (Sheffield Wednesday)

Sheffield Wednesday were 2-0 winners at Nottingham Forest and any member of their backline could've made the Team of the Week, but we've gone for Loovens, who captained the side to the comfortable victory.

Midfielder: Elliot Hewitt (Colchester United)

The U's won 2-0 at Peterborough United in Sky Bet League 1, moving them just a point adrift of safety at the foot of the table, and Hewitt was the scorer of their second goal late on, to cap off a good performance. The Ipswich Town loanee ran from inside his own half and finished superbly for his first goal for Colchester.

Midfielder: Sam Wood (Wycombe Wanderers)

Fred Onyedinma may have scored the winning goal again for Wycombe in their 1-0 victory over York City but Wood was a star performer for the Chairboys, and he provided the assist for the Millwall youngster's strike on Saturday.

Midfielder: John-Joe O’Toole (Northampton Town)

Northampton secured their first Sky Bet League 2 victory in seven matches, at Exeter City, and John-Joe O'Toole was key to their triumph. He teed up Marc Richards for the opener before scoring the Cobblers' second goal of the game, which was his first for the club.

Midfielder: Will Hughes (Derby County)

Three vital points for Derby at Ipswich on Saturday moved them up to second in the Sky Bet Championship, and Hughes was a stand-out performer over the 90 minutes, receiving plenty of praise on The Football League's official Facebook page.

Midfielder: Matt Palmer (Burton Albion)

Burton also sit second, in Sky Bet League 2, and Palmer was crucial in their 2-1 success at home to Mansfield Town. The young midfielder opened the scoring with a low, in-swinging free-kick and then put on a fine display as the Brewers went on to seal all three points.

Striker: Clayton Donaldson (Birmingham City)

The Blues continue to improve and Donaldson was a hat-trick hero in their latest victory, against Wigan Athletic. The front man grabbed his first after only 67 seconds, before scoring again in the 14th and 64th minute to pile more misery on Malky Mackay's men.

Striker: Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (Bristol City)

Steve Cotterill's side returned to the top of Sky Bet League 1 courtesy of a 4-0 victory against Notts County. Matt Smith continued his purple patch by scoring but we've selected his attacking partner Emmanuel-Thomas for the Team of the Week. The ex-Arsenal trainee was also on the scoresheet in the comfortable win, and has been impressive over recent games.

Manager: Mark Robins (Scunthorpe United)

Scunthorpe United continued their resurgence under Robins by beating Walsall 4-1 on the road. That was their seventh unbeaten game and they've tabled 17 points from a possible 21 over that period. The manager's decision to hand Leicester City loanee Tom Hopper his debut certainly paid off as the front man produced a fine performance.